Air-box for brick-kilns.



f fle.-7|2,035. Patented Oct. 23, I902.

J. 0. Boss.

AIB BOX FOR BRICK KILNS. (Ap plic ation filed Mar. 3, 1902.

("No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATE T OFFICE.

JOHN CHRISTIAN BOSS, OF ELKHART, INDIANA.

AIR-BOX FOR BRICK-KILNS.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent No. 712,035, dated October 28, 1902.

Application filed March 3, 1902.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JOHN CHRISTIAN Boss, a citizen of the United States, residing at Elkhart, Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Air-Boxes for Brick- Kilns, of which the following isaspecification.

Myinvention relates to brick-kilns, and is an improvement upon that shown in Letters Patent of the UnitedStates granted to me May 14, 1901, and numbered 673,896.

This improvement relates particularly to the construction of the air box and that part furnishing the escape-passages for the air forced tothe fuelfor maintaining combustion.

My said invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan view showing one of the plugs removed. Fig. 2 is a section on line x a; of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a section on line yy of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a bottom view of the plug before it has been placed in position, and Fig. 5 is a side view of Fig. 4.

The box A shownin the drawings is in its main features the same as that shown in my said patent and is designed in the same manner as that to be placed in the ground in the bottom of the firing-arch of a brick-kiln, so that its upper part, containing the air-escape openings, will be substantially flush with the bottom of the arch. As this box lies along the middle of said bottom and. forms but a part of the surface on which the coal rests, it is important that the blast or blasts of air forced to the fuel should be spread as much as possible to produce readily the combustion of the fuel. Further, I have found that for the purpose of withstanding the high heat to which it is subjected the box should be wholly of cast-iron, and I have sought to so change the construction of my box that it may be made in all its parts wholly of castiron and that at the same time it may be made cheap and durable, as well as capable of diffusing or spreading the blast as much as possible.

The boxAis cast, preferably, in one piece, though it may be made in sections. The upper surface is flat to conform to the bottom of the arch of which when in place it forms a part, and the under surface is preferably rounded. The interior forms an air-cham- Serial No. 96,516. (No model.)

ber in which the air is maintained during action under pressure supplied by any suitable air-forcing apparatus through a pipe 2. To permit the escape of the air in thin streams laterally, l have in this invention changed the form of the orifice from round toelongated, and the plug is changed accordingly. In the metal of the top of the box is the opening of the form stated, extended across the top. It is made with outwardly-flaring sides and ends, as shown at 3, and across the middle of the openings is a cross-bar 4, formed in casting in the metal of the box. This cross-bar is below the sloping sides. The ends of the opening are provided with horizontal flanges 5, and between these. and the cross-bar are the main air-passages 6. The plug B is in general outline corresponding to that of the opening. Its edges are beveled underneath, and it is provided with bosses or projections, one at each corner (marked 7) and other intermediate bosses, (marked 8.) Preferably the plug is made. thinner in the central parts, as shown at 9, so that it may be more easily bent. At each end'it is provided with a lug 10. These when the bar is cast are at right angles with the plane of the plug; but as the plug is rendered malleable they are bent down, so as to form, with the upwardly-sloping ends of the plug, open jaws. The plug is bent across the middle part, so that the ends slope downward,

and the piece so shortened that it may be introduced into the opening in the top of the box. When so placed, the projecting corners of'the plug bear on the outwardlyflaring walls, and the lugs are so located that when the plug is forced down on its middle partand straightened the bosses thereon bear on the walls of the box and the lugs embrace the flanges 5 and hold the plug in place. The bosses therein maintain a thin passage all around the plug, excepting on small portions where the bosses bear. The main passages 6 communicate directly with this passage all around the plug,- as there is an air-space between the plug and the upper surface of the cross-bar 4:. The parts are so proportioned that when the central part of the plug is pressed down and the plug straightened the central bosses bearon the walls of the opening. The flaring or beveled edges of the opening and plug thus form an outwardly-inclined thin passage extending with slight interruption all around the opening and allowing a thin but extended stream from the pressure-chamber in the box directed laterally to the coal. By this construction a greater extent of air-blast is provided on the same extent of surface as compared with the construction in my aforesaid patent, the construction is cheaper, and as all the parts are of cast-iron they endure the high heat better.

I have described the bosses as on the plug, but obviously they maybe formed on the sides of the opening in the box.

I claim- In the described air-box of a brick-kiln, an

opening extending across the top, having inclined outwardly-flaring sides,and end flanges 5 and a malleable-iron plug corresponding thereto, provided with lugs arranged, when the plug is in place, to engage with the said flange; and interposed bosses,whereby a narrow passage is maintained on all sides, these parts being constructed and combined, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN CHRISTIAN BOSS.

WVitnesses:

PERRY L. TURNER, DENNIS E. BIGAM. 

